I had a professor in graduate school who walked in on the first day of class and wrote on the chalkboard: “The best students are those who never quite believe their professors.” It was a wonderful way to emphasize that those who think for themselves—those who do not take anyone’s word for something just because of their supposed authority—inevitably get the most out of their learning.

As you go through this site, keep in mind that I’m not asking you to ingest these ideas just because I say so. Rather, I'm asking you to thoughtfully consider them because they are derived from rigorous empirical research.  Built to Last required six years of research, conducted at Stanford University Graduate School of Business with my colleague and mentor Jerry Porras. Good to Great required five years of effort with 21 research associates at my management laboratory in Boulder, Colorado.

The cornerstone of our research method is the selection of a credible study set, the direct comparison of that set to a carefully selected control set, and the study of the contrasts between each set over a long period of history. As Jerry Porras and I wrote in Built to Last: “If we had to identify one aspect of this book that most separates it from all previous management books, we would point to the fact that we looked at companies throughout their entire lifespans and in direct comparison to other companies. This proved to be the key method for calling into question powerfully entrenched myths and discerning fundamental principles that apply over long stretches of time and across a wide range of circumstances.”

Turning mountains of data into useful concepts is an iterative process of looping back and forth, developing ideas and testing them against the data, revising the ideas, building a framework, seeing it break under the weight of evidence, and rebuilding it yet again. That process is repeated over and over, until everything hangs together in a coherent framework of concepts.

While I cannot extract my own psychology and biases entirely from the research, the findings in the final framework of each major research project met a rigorous standard before the research team would deem it significant. (Chapter 1 plus the appendixes in Good to Great and Built to Last give detailed accounts of our research methods.) Yet keep in mind: I offer the ideas on this site for your thoughtful consideration, not blind acceptance. You’re the judge and jury. Let the evidence speak.